Clean Air Counts' Energy Saving Program

New for existing customers: please click here to learn where to find your ESP savings on your new bill.

What is the Energy Saving Program (ESP)?

ESP is a program through the Clean Air Counts Campaign of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus that enables residents and small businesses to stop wasting money on electricity by reducing the rate you pay and the amount you use. With Integrys Energy Services' low electricity supply rate of 5.95 cents/kWh, you'll pay 14.2% less than you pay now with ComEd's current summer rate of 6.932 cents/kWh for the next few months and, starting in the fall, you'll begin saving 28.5% over ComEd's non-summer rate of 8.32 cents/kWh! And when you sign up for ESP, we'll give you four energy-saving light bulbs (CFLs) -- as well as information about the best way to use and dispose* of them -- to help you use less electricity and save even more! We expect our earliest participants to save at least $250 by June 13.

What is the Chicago Energy Saving Program (CESP)?

Up until the beginning of March, much of the work of the Clean Air Counts Energy Saving Program (ESP) had been taking place in Chicago's surrounding communities. We decided to launch the Chicago Energy Saving Program (CESP) to help us reach out to more residents living in the City's wards to ensure they too had access to the financial, social and environmental benefits our program offers.

If you are a resident of the City of Chicago, please click here or on the "Chicago Energy Saving Program" tab at the top of the page.

How can I sign up for ESP and stop wasting money?

It's easy -- you can sign up in less than five minutes! Just get your most recent ComEd bill and click here to go to Integrys' ESP enrollment page.

If you live in one of the city's wards, please click here to go to Integrys' Chicago Energy Saving Program (CESP) enrollment page.

Why does the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) want to get residents and businesses throughout the Chicago Metropolitan Area to stop wasting money on electricity?

Because you, your neighbor and your employer could be doing better things with that money. On a monthly basis, $50 million is being wasted on high-priced electricity. Approximately two jobs can be created for every million dollars that is freed up for consumers to spend, and the MMC wants to do what it can to create these jobs in Chicagoland. Our average participant has saved $20 per month that can now go towards something more important than high electricity bills.

And by giving our customers energy-saving light bulbs (60-Watt equivalent CFLs), ESP can help them save even more money and help make all of Chicagoland's air cleaner by reducing the need for pollution-spewing generation plants.

Who is behind ESP?

ESP is part of Clean Air Counts (CAC) - a regional environmental initiative of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. CAC's mission is to reduce ozone-causing emissions, thereby improving air quality in northeastern Illinois and enabling economic development.

When should I get involved?

Right now! If you sign up now, you will get the most out of our low rates before ESP contracts end in June 2013 (when ComEd will change its rates). And you don't have to worry about losing out on ComEd's reduced rates - unlike any other third-party supplier offerings, we can guarantee that you will never pay more than ComEd's price. Even if it drops below 5.95 cents/kWh, our supplier, Integrys, will match the new low rate for all ESP customers.

On top of this excellent price, the ESP furthers Clean Air Counts' environmental mission and helps all of us living in the Chicagoland area by making our environment cleaner. Unlike all other supplier "green energy" offerings (e.g., renewable energy certificates), using CFLs improves air quality where we live, work and breathe because they use less energy that would come from the burning of coal in generating plants in and around Chicago.

In addition, since December, we have been rolling out our CFL-Food Pantry program, in which we hand out to families visiting food pantries one pack of four CFLs for every customer that signs up for the ESP. Many families in Chicagoland have to choose between paying their utility bills and putting food on their tables. These four light bulbs will help a food insecure family save $200 off their electricity bills over the lifetime of the bulbs, leaving them more money for necessities, such as food. New ESP customers can also choose to donate the complimentary CFLs they are offered when signing up for our program to our CFL-Food Pantry program to further help food insecure families. To learn more about our CFL-Food Pantry program, please click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

If you live in one of the city's wards, please click here to go to Integrys' Chicago Energy Saving Program (CESP) enrollment page.

Just look at the figure below to see why the ESP is such an important program. The graph shows the money Chicago and Northern Illinois residents are wasting by staying with ComEd. Since October, families in Chicago and Northern Illinois have already wasted $150 million by not joining the ESP.

*How to Properly Dispose of Your Burnt-out CFLs:

CFLs contain a small amount of mercury and they should be disposed of properly, preferably by recycling. Many Ace Hardware and Home Depot stores will take your used CFLs to recycle them. To find the store closest to you that will accept your used CFLs, please go to the following website and enter your address:

Regarding Clean Air Counts:

Clean Air Counts (CAC) is a northeastern Illinois regional not-for-profit with the mission to reduce ozone-causing emissions, thereby improving air quality and enabling economic development.

It is a collaborative effort between the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, City of Chicago, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5, and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. This multi-year initiative seeks to achieve specific and significant reductions in targeted smog-forming pollutants and major reductions in energy consumption. Members include 200 communities (including the City of Chicago), along with business, commercial and institutional organizations, working together to improve air quality.

CAC's environmental mission will be helped greatly by the CFL distribution portion of its Energy Savings Program, which will lead to significant reductions in electricity use in Chicagoland households and small businesses. The less electricity Chicagoland residents and businesses use, the less pollution-spewing generation plants in the area will be needed. And the less these plants are used, the less smog-forming gases will be emitted and the cleaner our air will be.

Facts About CFLs:

All households and small businesses that sign up for the ESP will receive four 14-Watt Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs). These light bulbs use 25% of the energy of 60-watt bulbs, while emitting the same amount of light, and can last up to 10 times longer. If installed, the four CFLs will save you $40 each year. To get the maximum cost benefit from these bulbs, they should be used in fixtures that are left on for hours at a time: outdoor lanterns or security floodlights, for example, or hallways, landings, and your most lived-in rooms. Benefits of energy-efficient lighting practices include:

Reduced emissions of nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide into the environment for better air quality;

Lowered electricity costs (roughly 10-15%);

Lowered maintenance costs;

Introduction of more appropriate lighting levels;

Continuation of aesthetically-pleasing natural lighting;

Improved electricity system reliability; and

Reduced electrical and cooling loads in buildings.

How to Properly Dispose of Your Burnt-out CFLs:

CFLs contain a small amount of mercury and they should be disposed of properly, preferably by recycling. Many Ace Hardware and Home Depot stores will take your used CFLs to recycle them. To find the store closest to you that will accept used CFLs, please go to this website and enter your address: